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Carlos Cardoso Aveline

The Causes of War, and of Peace

Close up of the temple in the Holyland Model of Ancient Jerusalem [Photo: Wikipedia]
Close up of the temple in the Holyland Model of Ancient Jerusalem [Photo: Wikipedia]

Wars certainly have severe consequences, but they belong into a large extent to the world of effects. One must examine their Causes.

The origin of terrorism and military conflicts must be found in human soul.

A war is more than “the continuation of politics by other means”. It is also an outward expression of spiritual ignorance. The road from ignorance to war has a series of stages. Its steps make a complex Chain of Causation, a succession of unfortunate causes-and-effects.

The absence of spiritual wisdom and ethical knowledge leads to blind ambition, and produces an immoderate attachment to short-term pleasure. These two exaggerations stimulate ill-will and produce injustice.

From injustice comes hatred. A blind antagonism then destroys the ability to coexist in peace.

Thanks to such a subtle disaster, political conflicts that should be moderate become narrow-minded and “unconditional”. Intolerance becomes the guiding principle in the life of communities. Civil wars and conflicts among nations are the natural results from this kind of situation. People want to fight “to the end”. The goal is the “total defeat” if not  the elimination of the other. Antisemitism is the perfect example of such a spiritual disease.

Therefore, if one is to remain realistic, the number one priority for people of good-will cannot be to “immediately stop  all wars”. Let us see four practical reasons for this.

ONE.

Choosing impossible goals makes no sense. Friends of peace do not have the actual power to immediately stop military conflicts. Once a war starts, it can only be stopped after it has produced its main effects and is objectively ready to come to an end.

TWO.

As military conflicts are mainly mere effects, their causes must be eliminated before they disappear.

THREE.

History shows that some vicious forms of ignorance use to start wars – or to provoke them by disguised means. In such cases, appeasement does not work, and postponement often makes things worse. Brutal forms of hostile ignorance must be militarily defeated so as to leave no one in doubt. And such victories are not a beautiful thing to see. We have an example of this in the Second World War.

Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, was in ruins at the end of the war, in May 1945. The population of the country had been severely reduced, and the reason for this is simple: Nazis and terrorists who worship death have no problem whatsoever in seeing the destruction and the suffering of the populations which are controlled by them. They may even be proud of it, and make propaganda about it, in order to promote their own ends.

An extremist strategy based on political and psychological sadism-masochism (a style of propaganda often used to manipulate entire populations) is both cruel and victimist. A sadistic mind immediately interprets every act of respect and dialogue coming from its chosen enemy as a sign of mere weakness, and as a tendency to surrender. The more concessions you make to such an adversary, therefore, the more he sees you as weak, and as deserving his contempt and aggression.

FOUR.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, wars must be recognized as a tool which dysfunctional societies use to provoke their own disappearance.

Economic and military wars provide a transition from an old civilizational structure – which cannot sustain its own weight any longer – toward a different and renewed kind of social contract, more adapted to the requirements of the soul’s evolution and growth.

At the same time that the past dies, the future must be born. Otherwise, the past will keep repeating itself in a vicious circle.

Whenever a way of living among nations destroys itself through military and economic conflicts, the spiritual task of good-willing people includes therefore helping start a new Chain of Causation, a dynamic set of actions and reactions that will produce both justice and peace, for the two are inseparable.

One must expand once more the connection between human life and the One Law that rules the Universe. This is not said out of blind faith. Practical life shows that the real source of peace consists in building and preserving an inspiring interaction with the divine world and its ethics of respect for Life. It was said elsewhere that “It is by regaining one’s conscious contact with the Universe that one heals oneself from spiritual blindness and its numerous forms of visible suffering.” [1]

Once the sociological expressions of hysterical ignorance are defeated, how could a new chain of causation occur? Let us see one possible path among thousands of possibilities.

1) From the fact that someone is free from hatred in his mind, comes good will. 2) From good-will, lucidity and an expanded horizon are born.

3) A lucid point of view opens the door to friendship and brotherhood. 4) From brotherhood, honest cooperation emerges. 5) Sincere mutual help paves the way to common prosperity. 6) Once a shared well-being occurs, peace among nations becomes unavoidable. 7) This, however, will only occur into the extent that a sense of equilibrium and the practice of moderation are preserved.

There will be a significant amount of mistakes, of course. But modesty protects good sense. Accumulated experience slowly gives us the wisdom we need. Unceasingly life renews itself, and a living, dynamic peace is the natural result of one’s ability to learn.
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NOTE:

[1] From the article The Healing Power of Universality.

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Read more:

* The World War in Our Minds.

* Hitler’s Science, and Science Today.

* The Universality of Temple Mount.

* Freud on Freedom From Delusion.

* Awakening from the Opium Wars.

* Temple Mount as a Source of Peace.

* Old Prophecies and Atomic War.

* Theosophy and the Second World War.

About the Author
Born in Brazil in 1952, Carlos Cardoso Aveline is a journalist by profession and author of the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”. He has other works published on esoteric philosophy and ecology. The editor of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, Cardoso Aveline thinks Judaism, Jewish philosophy and Israel have important roles to play in the ethical rebirth the world needs in the present century. He lives in Portugal and directs the Library and Research Center of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists, whose associated websites include www.TheosophyOnline.com and www.HelenaBlavatsky.Org .
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